2015 - Kazymierzowsky Rebound
Kazymierzowsky Rebound
Space Popular's vision for a multidimensional memorial in Cubryna Park in Warzaw
Location
Type
Year
Status
SPOPeople
Cubryna Park, Warsaw, Poland
Competition - Europan 13
2015
Completed. Unawarded
Lara Lesmes, Fredrik Hellberg, Wachira Leangtanom, Palm Nantawat Siritip, Pik Prapasri Khunakridatikarn
Introduction
Cities are living records of history. The more complex an agglomerate it is, the more inspiring a city can be to its inhabitants. To reveal new layers of history that were hidden, buried, sunken, etc. help us have a better understanding of the fascinating sequence of events that composed a place. The project aims to address the overlay of information currently existing in the site, to display, adapt and add-on to it. For this we use several mechanisms that we will describe below:
1. THE PAVILION
2. THE SLOPES
3. THE GLOW
Augmentations of The Pavilion. There are at least 5 known version of Palac Kazimierzowski ranging from early Baroque versions dating from the 17th century to mid 20th century Neoclassical variants. We propose to have the footprint of all versions as a steel-plate contour in the ground and an a virtual reality augmentation to be experienced on site via different devices.
1. THE PAVILION
When history comes in the form of architecture, context plays an important role. Fragments of what once was an architecture could be put back together trying to match its original form or can be displayed as independent pieces. The former would give us a better idea of what it once was yet leave little to the imagination; the latter would put more emphasis on each independent piece yet fail to give an overview.
THE PAVILION
Partial reconstruction of the 17th century version of Palac Kazimierzowski on colorful alloy, fitting with height regulations and avoiding existing trees.
The remainder of the palace and its previous versions are constructed in virtual reality in The Augmented as seen in the scenes below.
4. THE AUGMENTED
New technologies allows us to generate virtual reconstructions of the palace to be experience on site as augmentations of The Pavilion. There are at least 5 known version of Palac Kazimierzowski ranging from early Baroque versions dating from the 17th century to mid 20th century Neoclassical variants. We propose to have the footprint of all versions as a steel-plate contour in the ground and an a virtual reality augmentation to be experienced on site via different devices.
2. THE SLOPES
It is unclear though where did some of the stones recovered from the Vistula riverbed belong to and therefore we have allocated spaces in an area of the park where now there is a convergence of paths into a pedestrian roundabout (see area 2 in the plan drawing). By forming a series of slopes we can accommodate seating for the users of the park to either sit or lay down looking at the river in front of the park, look back onto the trees or watch a sports game on the southeast side. The slopes are simple concrete constructions that can support soil on top where tall grasses and flowers can grow. Its maximum heigh does not surpass 3.7 meters and underneath them in the taller areas there are spaces for small kiosks for pop-up markets, vitrines for displaying stone pieces and a coffee shop within the pedestrian roundabout. In this way we keep the current footprint of the park pathways, which are also a layer of history, whilst adapting the landscape in order to accommodate new activities and provide display solutions for some of the Vistula treasures.
3. THE GLOW
Besides the current pathways, there had been several gardening layouts in the current site and, keeping with our aim to collect all layers of history, we display those as well but this time with light. As a lighting scheme for the park we propose a network of light lines of different colors, each of them identifying a different layer of history or use. We have chosen CMY colors as the primary set that can be generated with LED lights and have assigned them to different layers as follows: in YELLOW we have the layout that in the early 20th century accompanied the Dowborczycy Monument and together with it we propose to place the monument in its original location, now amongst the trees; in WHITE (represented green in the drawings for clarity) we have the axes of all the current paths, which also help illuminate The Slopes; in MAGENTA are the new paths consisting of two diagonals cutting through the park in order to ensure good circulation and connection to the new Vistula Riverside Boulevards; and in BLUE are the footprints of the different sports fields (volleyball, basketball and football) which would be turned on only when the use of these would be allowed. This lighting scheme allows us to create ephemeral boundaries of activity, demarcating areas for different purposes according to different seasons or times of the day. During the winter we propose as well an ice-skating rink within the boundaries of the palace footprints.
Colorful alloy structure partially outlining the mid 17th century Palac Kazimierzowsky.
Stone piece recovered from the Vistula river supported by the aluminium alloy structure.
Virtual reality reconstructions of the palace displaying corinthian capitals from the late neoclassical variant, visualized through VR devices.
Winter Scene
Locals and tourists gather in the park admiring the christmas decorations on The Augmented versions of the palace, as others enjoy ice skating in the rink or walk through the winterscape coloured by The Glow.
Summer Scene
Locals gather in the park, laying on The Slopes under the sun, having pic-nics under the trees next to The Pavilion or playing sports in The Glow as tourists make use of The Augmented in order to gain knowledge of the history of the palace.
We propose a partial reconstruction of the 17th century Palac Kazimierzowski (from which the found fragments were stolen) to be placed in the Cubryna garden (see area 1 in the plan drawing). Most fragments belong to the back staircase and, thus, we propose an aluminium structure that outlines the main features of the original architecture and provides a structure onto which the original stones can be attached. This structure is placed along the symmetry axis of the original palace, respecting the outline of existing trees and the height regulations of the site. This leads to a partial physical reconstruction and it is the viewers’ imagination and past experiences what would complete the rest of it. The structure is composed of colorful alloy extrusions, contrasting with the natural colors of the stone and providing a different view depending on the side from which we approach it. It is also partially enclosed by a glass box open on one side in order to protect the stones yet letting the pavilion remain an open space instead of an interior.
Villa Regia - Pałac Kazimierzowski and its four personalities
Pałac Kazimierzowski (or Villa Regia) in Warzaw, Poland seen morphing in a loop between its four different stages.
